Siegfried's Intervention
by nomorecrazyhouse
Summary: After Soul Edge is destroyed, Nightmare repents by helping Ivy on her quest to destroy the sword's fragments. (5-24 - This story is COMPLETE! Feel free to review - I need all the help I can get! Thanks)
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur or any of its characters, but this story and some characters are mine. Don't plagiarize, or I might have to hunt you down and kill you in such a brutal manner it would fit in perfectly with this result offive weeks'worth of boring biology classes._

_Chapter 1 _

"_You're too weak for that, aren't you…?"_

_My eyes snapped open as I uprooted Soul Edge from the ground and whirled around to see a silver rapier pointed toward me in the outstretched hand of a tall, richly dressed blond man. His cold blue eyes were fixated on the amber eye on my sword._

"_I'll be taking that sword now." His eyes were still locked with Soul Edge._

"_Only from my lifeless corpse."_

"_I'm afraid that won't take much." There was a French accent bathed in sarcasm. There was something about the way he was staring into Soul Edge… The gleam in his eye told me he would do anything for its unrivaled power. Too bad, I thought, time to die._

"_You conceited, wretched human!" Energy surged into my body from Soul Edge. The sword's power is absolute, but he infuriated me to the point that my only thought was to reduce him to a large red stain on the floor of Ostrheinsburg Chapel._

_I swung Soul Edge in a wide arc, narrowly missing his stomach but catching his forearm. The man cringed before retaliating with a flurry of stabs from the rapier. I managed to throw off one stab with my left gauntlet and kicked him once in the side. When he still barely reacted, I realized this might be a tougher fight than I expected._

_I made a quick vertical swing, but he simply sidestepped and drove his rapier into my ankle._

"_Too slow!" Once again, the man's overconfident demeanor drilled into my mind. As he withdrew the rapier from my foot and readied another attack, I swept the man's legs out from under him and brought him to the ground as well._

_I was the first back up to my feet, giving me the perfect opportunity to slash at his head, but he simply cocked his head to the side as the blade narrowly missed his head, only nicking his ear, before he landed a deep slash through my breastplate and into the underlying leathery flesh._

_The blood oozing from my azure armor seemed to fuel my anger even more. I swung the sword horizontally and landed a heavy blow with the flat of the blade, sending him tumbling to the ground._

_I limped toward the Frenchman and raised Soul Edge over my head, ready to crush his skull with the flat of the blade. _

"_This is it!"_

_As I brought the sword down, however, the man thrust his rapier straight up, sinking it deep into the eye on Soul Edge. The blood of all the souls absorbed by the blade spilled out of the wound as it erupted in a mighty screech. Cracks began to form in the blade as it erupted in flame and split apart. The explosion sent me into the wall, where a fragment of the blade narrowly missed my already-maimed ankle, bounced off the wall and skipped once on the floor, and flew over the opposite wall._

_After four years of having been a slave to the demonic sword's overwhelming power, I was wrenched free. My mind once again had the capacity to think on its own without being overruled by the sword, but at the moment it was devoid of any thought or emotion as it was flooded with a flashback of all the destruction and massacre I had caused._

_I became aware I was still in a fight when the man, who had been forced into the ground by the explosion, groaned and rose to his feet, his rapier coated with the blood from Soul Edge._

"_Where's Soul Edge?" Even from this distance, his shock and despair were obvious. His dreams has been shattered right in front of him, just like the sword he was driven to possess. After a second or two, a little confusion settled in as well._

"_You're… human?"_

_It was true. Not only had I been freed in mind, but also in body. My leathery skin had lightened to a fleshy peach color. My long blond hair whipped around my face before I brushed it back with my right hand, no longer a grotesque monstrous claw. The wind was cold against my bare arm, which was previously unable to fit into any form of armor. I was once again Siegfried Schtauffen, the former leader of the brigands known as the Black Wind, and my struggle with Soul Edge was finally over._

_The man repeated, "Where is Soul Edge? Tell me!" His voice was purged of sarcasm, but it had been replaced with a psychotic rage. He walked toward me quickly, breathing heavily, the rapier clutched in his white-knuckle grip._

"_You have broken its curse on me… You destroyed Soul Edge. I thank you."_

_His eyes showed more fear than anything, like he's stuck in a dream he can't wake up from. "You liar! Give it to me now!" His face twisted in anger as he attempted to stab me once again with the rapier, but I grabbed it with my armored left hand, flipped it into the air, grabbed its hilt, and thrust it through his heart and out his back._

_The man's eyes lost their anger instantly and turned to a horrible sorrow and remorse. "I'm sorry, Amy…" were the man's dying words before he became lifeless, crumpling to the ground after I withdrew the rapier._

_As I wiped the blood off the rapier onto the man's clothes, I noticed the word "Sorel" etched unto the knuckle guard. This rapier may have been stolen from the French family of aristocrats, the Sorels, but judging from the man's clothes, he was probably a member of the said family. Well, it really didn't make too much of a difference now who he was; he was clearly dead. I couldn't help but wonder who this Amy girl might be._

_Where do I have to go? How can I possibly make a living when I have my past occupation as mass murderer? Perhaps work as a mercenary, like I had before I found Soul Edge. Yes, that was it. At least I could put my sword skill to use._

_But first, I would need a better weapon than this fruity rapier. It was far too light for my taste of weapons. I would also need to sell this armor: an azure set of plate mail with an embossed Evil Eye on the breastplate, now pocked with stab wounds and a long crevasse from the Sorel's rapier._

_Perhaps the Sorel had something of value that I could sell when I reach the next city. In the pockets, I found a few coins, probably enough to last a week if it was spent wisely on food and lodging. I expected such a well-dressed man to have more money…_

_The only other things I could find were a large gold ring and a small map of the area. I opened the map and found my current location: Ostrheinsburg Chapel. I vaguely remembered this place without knowing why, but I didn't recognize the large crater in the ground. Also, two walls and the ceiling were missing._

_I looked at the map again and saw a footnote for Ostrheinsburg in large, loopy handwriting: "Last known battle of Soul Edge / Soul Calibur."_

_Soul Calibur? Now I remembered why I recognized this chapel…_

_About six or seven years ago, three people attacked me in this chapel. One had been a Chinese girl by the name of Chai Xianghua, who wielded a double-bladed sword I heard her refer to as Soul Calibur, which was the only weapon I had encountered that was anywhere close to Soul Edge's power. As soon as the blades touched, both of us were plunged into a blazing vortex of fire, where we did battle. Perhaps it was a reaction to Soul Edge, but Soul Calibur emitted a high-pitched ringing noise inside my head. Unfortunately, I suffered a humiliating loss to her. I had no recollection of what happened afterward…_

…_Oddly enough, I could hear the ringing in my ears once again. I thought maybe it was just part of the memory sticking with me, but while I searched Ostrheinsburg Chapel for any kind of helpful item, I felt the ringing intensify the closer I got to the large crater._

_I climbed my way down into the crater, being careful not to aggravate my bleeding ankle that I had yet to mend. The farther I climbed, the stronger the ringing. Finally, when I reached the bottom, the deafening ringing seemed to pulsate in my brain. Still, there was nothing to be seen. I stood where the ringing was most intense and felt compelled to dig… so I did._

_After a minute or two of digging, my gauntlet clanged against something metal in the ground. I withdrew the object from the ground and, sure enough, it was Soul Calibur, the turquoise double-bladed sword that was the cause of my last defeat._

_As soon as it touched my hand, I could see the metal slowly twist and contort into a new shape and grew in size until it was almost identical with my old sword, Requiem._

_This newsword had a strange design; there were still two blades, but one was longer and wrapped around the end of the shorter blade, creating a hook-like appendage at the tip. I swung it once to test the balance and smiled. Its balance was impeccable, but as I swung the blade, I felt a soothing aura surround me as the wounds on my chest and ankle slowly healed themselves._

_I noticed the Sorel rapier still at my side and decided I could sell that, too. If Soul Calibur was really so powerful, it was an indispensable toolto my repentance. Carrying this sword on my shoulder and the map in my other hand, I headed toward the nearest town._


	2. Chapter 2

_ Chapter 2 _

_The turquoise blade over my shoulder and the map in my hand, I traversed the forest between Ostrheinsburg and the closest town, Kandarin. I had walked a few miles in my heavy armor with a sword longer than I was tall on my shoulder, but with this new sword I wasn't nearly as tired as I should have been._

_That's when I met Ivy._

_I could hear leaves rustling and metal clanking to my left side. I turned quickly and caught a glimpse of white hair above a column of pale exposed flesh._

_I moved toward where I had seen the person, but they were gone. I looked behind the nearest tree. Still nothing._

_A woman's voice thick with English accent sounded behind me right as I felt cold, sharp steel against my neck._

"_Your soul has been tainted by Soul Edge. You must die."_

_The steel seemed to wrap around my neck like a snake. I pulled the rapier out of my armor – Gods only knew how I managed to get it in there without impaling myself – and pried myself free. I backed away slowly and viewed my assailant._

_This woman was a good deal taller than my five feet, six inches. Her short platinum hair in front of her green eyes didn't quite catch my attention as much as her outfit: dark purple leather only covering what is required by law to be covered in public. _

_She also had a gold armlet on her left arm._

"_Who are you?"_

"_My name doesn't matter, only my destiny. Soul Edge and everyone ever tainted by it must be eradicated from the face of the planet." Her wrist twitched slightly and the short sword she was wielding collapsed into a bladed whip that wrapped around her slender frame._

"_Your work has already been accomplished. Soul Edge has been destroyed."_

_The woman's eyes narrowed as she readied her whip-sword. I could tell her patience was quickly waning._

"_My name is Siegfried Schtauffen. I am the last owner of the Sword of Salvation, or rather, the last pawn of it. Earlier today, I was assaulted by a man I believe to be a Sorel, who managed to destroy the sword." I held up the rapier in my left hand._

"_You're telling the truth… But that won't save you now. The evil sword has already infected your soul. And are you sure that it was truly destroyed?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Or was it just broken apart, like it was seven years ago?"_

_I stood motionless for a moment. "I suppose it only broke…" Really? Xianghua broke Soul Edge? Odd that I didn't remember that…_

_Her eyes narrowed again, like she was probing my mind. "I like you. I think I'll let you live… for now… under one condition."_

"_And that is?"_

"_Since it's your fault that I now have to destroy about twenty pieces of Soul Edge instead of just one sword, you must join me and my cause to erase the cursed sword from _

_existence, or die where you stand."_

_I thought this over. It's not like I had anything better to do, and I didn't really want to carve up this beautiful woman like a turkey._

"_Deal."_

_The lady put her whip-sword aside and brushed her hair from her eyes before extending her hand. "My name is Isabella Valentine. Call me Ivy."_

"_Well met, Ivy." I took her hand and shook it. Her grip was much stronger than I expected._

_Ivy's sword intrigued me. Exactly how does it work?_

"_What kind of sword is that?"_

_She gave a little chuckle. "Everyone asks me that. Those that haven't died by its blade, that is. I'm an alchemist. I made this sword myself. The last time Soul Edge broke, I found a fragment of it. When I fused it with Valentine—" Ivy held up her sword "— it draws itself toward Soul Edge or its fragments. Or, in your case, past wielders that have been infected." She brushed her hair from her eyes again. "And what's the story behind your sword, may I ask?"_

_I glanced at Soul Calibur. "I found this buried at Ostrheinsburg right after the Sword of Salvation was destr—umm, broken." I decided to leave out the fact that this was Soul Calibur until I felt I could trust her._


	3. Chapter 3

_ Chapter 3 _

_Finally, Ivy and I reached Kandarin._

"_And tell me why we came here again?" Ivy's irritation was obvious in her voice._

"_I need new armor. People might get a little suspicious if they saw me in Nightmare's armor."_

"_So, you're trying not to be noticed, yet the first place you go is a city, hm?"_

"_Well, it's not like I have anything else to wear, so I might as well get it over with quickly."_

"_Maybe you won't have to be seen in that armor at all…" Ivy's eyes looked into the nearest house's window, and after making sure it was empty, tried the doorknob. It opened with a squeak that was hardly audible in the bustling street. After checking all the closets, all that was inside was portly women's clothes._

"_Well, it was worth a try anyway, wasn't it…?" Ivy looked around the street and finally pointed at someone across the street. "There's one that has about your size."_

_The man Ivy pointed at was a slightly round man, shorter than me, with short black hair. His beady black eyes were noticeable from the other side of the street. He was wearing a beige tunic and pants, with a belt on the second to last hole._

_Ivy walked toward this man slowly. He was almost hypnotized by her scantily clad body and her sultry walk. When she got near him, I could see they had started a conversation, but this busy town was just too noisy to hear them. Ivy put her hand on his chest and he almost instantly turned bright scarlet. A few seconds later, they quickly walked behind a large building with no windows. Would she really…?_

…_Yep. About thirty seconds later, Ivy ran toward me holding the man's clothes._

"_You know, it might have been a little easier to just go here…" I pointed a gauntlet-clad finger at the clothes shop right next to the building with no windows. The man could be seen poking his head out from around the corner, even more flushed than before._

"_I know. This just seemed like more fun. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a drink." She started walking in the direction of the sign with a large cup of frothy beer. _

"_By the way, you might want to get changed and buy new armor before following me… I seem to be drawing a crowd." She nodded toward a group of men staring at her and talking to the nude man behind the building. "I have a bad enough reputation here without a Nightmare look-alike following me."_

_Oh well, I thought. They'll be distracted enough by that poor soul behind the building that they won't even think of checking here. I walked into the building that Ivy had raided and pulled off my remaining chest plate._


	4. Chapter 4

_ Chapter 4 _

_Later, I walked into the pawnshop down the street from the clothes incident. I now looked like a normal citizen of Kandarin. It felt good to have my left arm, which had been bare until now, shielded from the cold by a sleeve. The pants barely fit on the smallest belt hole, and if I still had the Sorel rapier, I would have made another hole for it. I seemed to have lost it after saving myself from Ivy. Dragging Soul Calibur in one hand and my armor in the other, I walked toward the shopkeeper, who simply stared unblinkingly at the sword._

"_H-Hello, sir! Buying or… selling?" His eyes lit up at the word "selling"._

"_Selling."_

_I could almost see his heart leap up into his throat. "Good, are you selling that sword?"_

_I glanced down at the sword and back at the shopkeeper. "No, this isn't for sale. But this is…" I lifted the armor onto the table before the shopkeeper, who seemed to be oblivious to the fact that I brought armor in here as well._

_As soon as he saw the Evil Eye on my armor, he fainted. I walked around the table, knelt down by him, and shook his shoulder. No response. I backhanded him across the face out of impatience and he stirred, blinked a couple of times, and said, "What kind of demon are you? You have Nightmare's armor and Soul Calibur?"_

_Everyone within earshot of those words stopped abruptly. People outside quickly crowded outside the window, and those inside gawked at either the sword or the armor, not knowing which stunned them more. A crash was heard as someone next to me dropped a priceless crystal artifact out of shock._

"_How did you come across these, sir?"_

_I could see this was going to become a giant, tangled web of lies very quickly. "Nightmare is dead and the Sword of Salvation has been destroyed."_

_This provoked a hearty cheer from the crowd. More and more people were swarming around the tiny pawnshop._

"_Now, if you're finished, how much will you pay for this fine suit of armor?"_


	5. Chapter 5

_ Chapter 5 _

_Later, after passing through the throng encompassing the pawnshop, I had stopped by the armor shop, where I had just enough time to try on the shop's finest plate armor crafted from the cyan-colored rare metal Orichalcum and pay for it before the shop was so stuffed full of people that I couldn't move. I had become an instant celebrity._

_Just after I made it outside and started heading toward the bar Ivy had went to, I felt a hand around the back of my neck pulling me toward a side alley._

_I turned to see who had saved me from the approaching crowd. This stranger was obviously of Asian origin. His narrow eyes showed a very serious demeanor. He was dressed in black and white flame-pattern pants and strips of cloth covering his shoulder and torso. His long, fluffy hair was pulled back into a thick ponytail._

"_You killed Nightmare?" The stranger said in a rough voice._

"_Yes. What of it?"_

"_I challenge you. There is a tournament later today. Sign up for this tournament. Now." I was forced out into the confused crowd, who rallied around me once again. I attempted to get back over to the alley, but there were too many people in the way. I got in the alley just in time to see the man on the roof of the building. He took off jumping between roofs, his katana scabbard bouncing against his leg._


	6. Chapter 6

_ Chapter 6 _

_After sprinting away from the crowd, I stopped by the clothes shop to pick up a gray robe to keep myself from being noticed so much, but hadn't put it on yet. I then crossed the street to the bar, I saw Ivy being shoved out by, presumably, the barkeep. Her hair was ruffled and she had her sword in its whip form gripped tightly by her pale hand. Her eyes were filled with a blazing anger._

"_Don't come back here again, harlot!" The door slammed shut._

_I ran to her side. "What happened?"_

"_I got in a bar fight. Someone grabbed me, and now the little bastard's unconscious and missing an arm."_

_I slapped my hand to my forehead. "So, it's look but don't touch with you, hm?"_

"_Depends on the person touching." Ivy moved her eyes up and down my body. "Nice armor."_

"_Thanks, but if you feel so much like fighting, maybe you should join the tournament getting ready to start. I just got challenged to it, and I don't back down from challenges. So, you interested?"_

"_I think I will." Ivy responded in a defiant tone. "Where do we sign up?"_

"_It's just a hunch, but maybe it's the huge towering coliseum right over there."_


	7. Chapter 7

_ Chapter 7 _

_I sat in the highest row of galleries in my gray robes, trying not to get myself noticed before the tournament started. The armor underneath was so smooth that it was impossible to tell I was wearing it. _

_There were thirty-six contestants in the tournament. I was seeded, so I was free to watch the tournament's first round without having to fight my way through. The tournament officials had hired the area's best doctors to salvage whatever was left of the losers and to best heal the winners for their next match._

_Ivy was in the first match. As the only woman competing, everyone in the arena ridiculed her, including her opponent, a tall, large man wielding a wicked-looking black scimitar with a tiger pattern on the blade. His moves were just as quick as you would expect the tigers on the blade to be, but he had no chance of besting Ivy's unique fighting style. With a few choice whips and slashes, he was on his way to the medic room._

_Lying back against the wall, I saw each match: some insanely one-sided, whereas others were taking their toll on each combatant. One match ended in a double knockout when one made a badly timed tackle of their opponent and got a dagger in the eye before crushing his opponent's ribcage. Still, there was no sign of the man who brought me here._

_After the first round, the quarterfinals began. I went to the waiting room still in my robe. I pulled the hood down as I quietly entered and sat next to Ivy._

"_Where did you learn to fight like that? That was amazing--"_

_Suddenly, an arena official burst into the room. "Is there an Isabella Valentine here?"_

_Ivy stood up. "That would be me."_

_When the man turned to Ivy, he instantly turned scarlet and quickly averted his gaze to the scroll he was holding. "It says here you've been moved to the semifinals by default. Your opponent has left the tournament to look for…the slut that stole his son's clothes?" One eyebrow went up. "Regardless of the cause, you're in."_

_Ivy's expression was pure shock. "…Thank you, sir."_

_The man's eyes flew from the scroll to her breasts and back to the scroll. After attempting to roll up the scroll without dropping it more than once, he made a quick bow, bade her good luck, and left the waiting room. A few seconds later, he peeked his head back in and called, "Quarterfinals Match Two is about to begin! That's Schtauffen versus Leary!"_


	8. Chapter 8

_ Chapter 8 _

_As I stepped out to my side of the arena, I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place. It was pretty obvious that it was a large arena, but it looked even more massive from the inside, and the stands were almost completely full._

_My opponent stepped into the arena from the side opposite my entrance. If the name Leary didn't give away his Irish ancestry, then his appearance did: shaggy red hair peeking out from under a metal helmet, a short bushy beard, large blue eyes, and an expression that gave away his congeniality and good nature. Also, in his left hand was his weapon of choice: a large, thick warhammer that was disproportionately large compared to his height, noticeably shorter than mine. His thick arms, however, showed he was more than capable of wielding such a large weapon._

_Both of us walked toward the center, where a decrepit old man with a cane was awaiting our arrival. _

"_There are two rules: first, if you fall off the platform, you're disqualified. Second, if your opponent is dead or unconscious, stop attacking immediately. We pay these medics enough the way it is." The man's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Your fight will begin at the sound of the gong. Are you both ready?"_

_We both nodded._

"_Fine, let's get this match started, then!" The man hobbled over to the large gong in the corner and smacked it with his cane, creating a loud, resonating sound throughout the coliseum._

_I pulled off my robes to reveal my sparkling orichalcum armor and Soul Calibur at my side. The crowd erupted with raucous applause as they realized who I was. I had become the favorite to win this fight. I wondered how differently the crowd would have reacted to see Nightmare under that hood._

"_So, you're the killer of Nightmare, hm? It's an honor to fight you, but I will win." His warm blue eyes instantly turned to those of a cold-blooded killer as he raised the polished metal warhammer over his head and slammed it to the ground where I had been standing just a split-second before. Leary tipped the hammer up onto the spike at its end and used the head as an anchor to swivel around and land a two-legged kick straight to the breastplate of my armor, sending me a short distance on the ground before I was back to my feet. This armor held up to impact better than I expected – it hadn't even dented._

_I held Soul Calibur ready at my side and watched my adversary's movements carefully, ready to dodge and slash. Such a heavy weapon could be thrown off balance if he missed again, and parrying such a heavy weapon was out of the question._

_We both simply stood there, each ready to counter the other's attack. Being impatient, I ran toward Leary and feigned a horizontal slash, bur right before the slash, I spun my body into a roundhouse kick. Unfortunately, my opponent was too short, and my leg flew right over his head._

_As I regained my balance, I received the warhammer straight to the chest. I felt the armor dent before I flew a great distance, but before I landed, I tucked myself into a back flip and landed on my feet and took off at a dash to the Irishman with Soul Calibur behind me, and when I was in range, I used both hands and swung the sword with all my strength. One leg managed to avoid the brutal attack, but the other was cut clean off just below his knee. It went flying off the platform and landed before the audience with a sickening thwack as it stuck stump-down to the arena floor._

_Leary erupted with a howl and the cold eyes he had been wearing until now filled with pain and a fiery rage that was only topped by the Sorel's. With all his might, he swung the hammer horizontally at me. It connected with my left arm, splitting my armor and snapping the bone inside. My scream could be heard throughout the coliseum._

_Holding Soul Calibur in my functional right arm, I decided to end this foolishness. I kicked Leary in the stomach to knock him off guard right before I stabbed him in the left side of his chest with Soul Calibur, piercing the plate mail like parchment. The sword could be seen through the other side, covered in blood and gore. I raised both Soul Calibur and Leary in the air with one arm, hooking Leary with the longer blade of the sword, and swung them both around me in a full circle, lifted them over my head, and slammed them to the ground. Leary's head snapped backward as Soul Calibur was forced downward through his ribcage and out his shoulder. His arm was disconnected from his body, save for a strip of skin and muscle hanging off him at his stomach._

"_I'd say we have a winner here…" The shriveled old man hoisted himself up onto the platform, this time holding a mop._


	9. Chapter 9

_ Chapter 9 _

_I watched the remaining quarter-final matches from my seat in the waiting room, inspecting my arm, which had been cut open by the doctor and had a metal cast put inside my arm around the bone, keeping the pieces in place and making it functional again, albeit a little bit heavier than before. The stitched skin had sealed itself shut upon touching Soul Calibur, stunning the doctors._

_Unfortunately, Leary wasn't as lucky; if his skull hadn't been crushed, he probably could have survived. Oh well, I thought. If he wasn't prepared to die, he shouldn't have entered a weapon tournament in the first place._

_Who was my next opponent? It dawned on me that I hadn't yet seen the tournament ladder yet. As I rose to my feet, Ivy returned from wandering around town._

"_Hello, Siegfried."_

"_Hello, Ivy. How was your trip?"_

_With a grin, she replied, "Ah, it was fun. Ask the guards."_

_I decided it would be better not to ask. I noticed the last quarterfinal match had just finished, and still no sign of the katana man. Perhaps I had missed his match while the doctors repaired my arm._

_Just as this thought entered my mind, I saw a man wearing black and white pants with a flame pattern on them proudly enter from the medic room. He either hadn't been injured, or they were very slight injuries that the doctors healed quickly._

_Ivy slid closer to me and whispered in my ear, "You see that man over there with the katana?" I nodded. "He has a fragment of Soul Edge."_

"_Really? Him?"_

"_Yes, but we won't be able to get it during the tournament. We have to make a reason for him to meet us afterward. Maybe I can strike a deal with him after he loses his next fight…"_

"_The first semifinal match is about to begin! Mitsurugi and Schtauffen, get ready!"_

_The man with the katana locked eyes with me, gave an arrogant smile, and stepped into the arena._


	10. Chapter 10

_ Chapter 10 _

"_You both know the rules. Wait for the gong." The old man again left the arena and, seconds later, the gong sounded._

_Almost instantly, Mitsurugi was less than a foot from me and I saw a katana come seemingly out of nowhere with a vertical slash. I managed to get Soul Calibur in position to parry the katana, but it switched to a horizontal slash mid-swing. The only thing that saved me was the bizarre protrusion from just below the smaller blade, which stopped the katana in its tracks. _

_This man's attacks were much quicker than I expected; I would have to think up another plan, and quick. If he was so fast, I decided, I would have to make him slow._

_I swung Soul Calibur in a horizontal slash, but somehow Mitsurugi was able to match my strength and our weapons became locked together, our faces within inches of each other. Perhaps he had been fooled by my armor into thinking I followed some knight's code of honor, but not only had I been corrupted by Soul Edge, but also before that, I was the leader of the Black Wind bandits. Had he known my history, he would know I do what it takes to win; but he also found that out as my heel came down on his foot._

_Mitsurugi's eyes bulged as he grunted, and the strength on his katana weakened. Now was my chance._

_I reversed the direction of Soul Calibur and spun in the opposite direction, the sword outstretched. Mitsurugi had regained his composure just quickly enough to spare his life, but not quite completely saving himself as Soul Calibur sunk itself deep into his side before being stopped once again by his katana before being forced out of the deep wound._

_His eyes squeezed shut with pain, Mitsurugi made a wild slash in my direction. It cut my armor, but not deep enough to slash the flesh. This katana was extraordinarily sharp; I would have to keep a closer guard if I valued my life._

_Mitsurugi, clutching his bloodstained wrap on his left side with one hand and his katana with the other, was clearly in no condition to fight, but yet here he stood before me. I commended his willpower, but there was not much of a threat left of the brave warrior who challenged me. It occurred to me that I shouldn't kill Mitsurugi; we still needed the Soul Edge piece. I came up with a quick plan…_

_I hooked Mitsurugi's katana inside the hook-like appendage of Soul Calibur and pulled it away. Mitsurugi, shocked, limped toward it, but I stopped him in his tracks with a swift kick to the side. He crumpled to the ground, holding his side with both hands. I seized my chance and rushed toward him, placing one hand on his neck and the other wedged into his wound. I then lifted him into the air, causing to unleash a scream of pain, strained through my grip on his throat._

"_Forfeit the match." My hand thrust farther into the profusely bleeding wound. He began to kick his legs and try to pull my hand out as his breath grew shallow with panic. His face deepened from red to purple. _

_I wedged my hand even farther as I balled it up into a fist inside his wound. Mitsurugi attempted to scream, but it escaped as more as a croak. Finally, seeing no way out of his situation, he stopped his panicked flailing and mouthed the words "Okay, okay, I forfeit!"_

_I immediately released the drop on his neck and removed my hand from between his organs. His face lightened to his natural color as he inhaled deep, gasping breaths and replaced his hands on his gushing wound. I then watched Mitsurugi limp his way to the medic room as the announcer told the ground that the reigning champion had just forfeited the match. I picked up Soul Calibur, lifted it up onto my shoulder, and also went to the medic room for the armor smiths to fix the breastplate of my armor._


	11. Chapter 11

_ Chapter 11 _

_I presented my breastplate to the two female armor smiths, who immediately began to work on fixing the slash. Both seemed stunned that Mitsurugi had slashed through orichalcum, an amazingly strong metal that should be able to withstand any attack. They started a discussion about what his katana was crafted from before dismissing me to the waiting room, telling me they would have my armor finished before the beginning of the final match._

_In the waiting room, I watched Ivy's match against a young man wielding a halberd. He was fighting a losing battle against Ivy, who had pulled his weapon away and was now simply entertaining herself by torturing her prey. She was holding the halberd just out of his reach and whipping him at random intervals as he struggled to reach his only means of defense. Finally, out of boredom probably, she plunged her sword straight into his stomach, where it then extended through out his back, wrapped around him, and was pulled tightly, causing each segment to cut deep into the skin before being dragged around his body and out an open wound. After that, the match was over._

_After the end of the match, the announcer told the crowd that there would be an intermission before the start of the final round. I sat in the waiting room for a few minutes before one of the armor smiths returned with my repaired armor. I slipped it on and fastened it before tipping the smith a few coins and returning to my waiting._

_Ivy finally returned a short while later, with Mitsurugi a few feet behind. Instead of congratulating me for winning, he simply rubbed his newly wrapped side before (presumably) watch the final round from the stands. _

"_You must've been hurt pretty badly to be in there for that long."_

_Ivy smiled, brushed her hair from her face, and replied, "You think that amateur hit me once? I was talking to Heishiro."_

"_Hm. Since when are you two on first-name terms?"_

"_Since I… how should I put this… 'Arranged a meeting' with him."_

"_Should I ask why?"_

"_So you can break into his inn room and find the Soul Edge fragment."_

"_Ah, I get it. I get stuck with the dirty work while you just get dirty."_

"_No, if you've for gotten, my goal is not only to destroy Soul Edge, but also those corrupted by it. Also, there's a chance that Heishiro will still have the fragment with him."_

"_Ah, so you're just using him so you can get what you want… I see."_

"_Of course. I can see you're not above using underhanded moves, so why are you talking to me like that?" Ivy replied in a tone of mock outrage._

_It was then that I noticed the arena official walking toward us. "If you two are ready, the final match is about to begin."_

_As I stood up and walked into the arena after Ivy, I wondered just long he had been standing there, and how much of our conspiracy he had heard._


	12. Chapter 12

_ Chapter 12 _

"Good luck to both of you!" Once again, the old man hopped off the platform. 

_For the last time today, the gong's booming note echoed throughout the arena. As soon as I heard this sound, I felt a single blade of the whip pierce between the plates of armor at my shoulder._

"_No mercy!" Everyone in the arena heard the English voice. If she wanted a fight that badly, she would get it._

_I started planning my moves, making calculations in my head. Soul Calibur's shape had worked to my advantage until now; its shape could make it even easier to pull away than her previous opponent's halberd. Just about any move I could make could be avoided, countered, or turned against me. My best bet would be to wait for Ivy's attack and then counter it._

_Seconds later, Ivy was walking toward me with the blade whirling around her in a cross shape. I jumped to the side, reached around the blades, grabbed her leg and flipped her into the air._

_Somehow, she managed to land on her feet, and I felt her whip snap against my face, just missing my eye. Reflexively I raised my hand to my eye; that was the attack I was least expecting. Unfortunately, that was the distraction she had been waiting for._

_When I looked back up, Ivy was gone and I felt a metal armlet around my neck. I heard clinking metal and the sound of air passing between the blades before I saw them no longer attached to the handle, but flying around me. All the blades flew toward me, each one piercing through my armor like paper, through my flesh, and out my back. I fell to the ground, groaning._

"_Was that painful, Siegfried?" I felt a high-heeled boot land on the back of my head and everything went black._


	13. Chapter 13

_ Chapter 13 _

_A few minutes or so later, I woke up in the medic room, where I sat up and all the pierce wounds were gone. My breastplate was missing, probably being repaired a second time. Those two armor smiths were probably dumbfounded once again by how easily the orichalcum had been cut._

_I moved my legs to the side of the bed and stood up, and I realized that Soul Calibur had been placed in my hands. I guessed these doctors didn't want to do any more work than they had to. I was face-to-face with a female blonde nurse._

"_Glad you've made a full recovery, Siegfried. Consider yourself lucky that none of those hit your vital organs. You're free to go," the woman said, and gave a dismissive wave before returning to the bed of the boy with the halberd._

_I retrieved my armor and donned it before going back to the waiting room, where I could see the ceremony for the tournament champion. Ivy stood in the center of the arena, waving with one hand. There was a small bag of what appeared to be coins held next to her sword in her other hand._

_After the ceremony, Ivy returned to the waiting room and took a seat next to me. "I expected better from you. You disappointed me."_

"_Well, I wasn't expecting you to be so brutal, plus I didn't want to kill you, either. So, about Mitsurugi… when's all this taking place?"_

"_In a few hours."_

"_Would you be interested in joining me for dinner?"_

"_Of course. Where did you have in mind?"_


	14. Chapter 14

_ Chapter 14 _

_Ivy and I were seated across from each other at a table in the finest restaurant within walking distance. This would be the first meal I could remember in at least four years, probably longer. No matter how hard I tried, the only thing I could remember out of the past ten years was my confrontation with Xianghua._

"_So, Ivy… Tell me more about yourself."_

"_In a nutshell, I was adopted by the Valentines after my father was overtaken by Soul Edge."_

"_And who was your father?"_

"_The only other things I know for sure are his name – Cervantes de Leon – and that he was a pirate who died at sea."_

_My mind flashed back to then years ago, when I first laid my hands on Soul Edge. Sure enough, it was in the tightly clenched hand of a pirate's corpse. In response to my attempts to take the sword, the pirate was reanimated and fought to defend the sword… or perhaps to make me prove myself a capable host for its power._

_Upon defeating the pirate, I had taken Soul Edge, which underwent a metamorphosis similar to Soul Calibur had earlier today. The next day, I woke up to the inside of a cabin, where the dismembered corpses of a man and woman laid before me, but Soul Edge had absorbed the blood on its blade. The sword had possessed my body in my sleep._

"_And what about your family, Siegfried?"_

"_Everyone in my family was taken by illness except for my father. I murdered him after Soul Edge overtook my body."_

"…_Oh."_

"_Soul Edge had spoken to me, telling me that I could revive my father by absorbing the souls of strong warriors. Being very naïve, I believed it, but after my first defeat, I had a flashback to what had happened during my possession. Among those memories was myself brutally chopping my father up into pieces."_

_Ivy remained silent. Perhaps it was time to change the subject._

"_Why are you trying to destroy Soul Edge?"_

_She once again brushed her hair from in front of her eyes, not noticing the men at the next table drooling into their meals. "Soul Edge will most likely cause the apocalypse unless someone destroys it."_

"_But… Why you? Surely there's someone else out there with the same goal?"_

"_Everyone else seeks its power for their own personal reasons, even those who know the sword's true nature. They think they can handle its power, but they're sorely mistaken. No human can handle it. You should know that."_

_Our food arrived a short while later. I had ordered the largest steak on the menu. It was extra rare and dripping with blood, which made me wonder if it had been cooked at all. Looking at Ivy, I noticed she had ordered the same thing. Taking another look at her figure, I suspected she was bulimic._

_Nonetheless, it was a delicious and hearty meal. I wondered how I had kept myself alive as Nightmare, because I had never been compelled to order steaks rare. Did I eat farmers' livestock, or had I unknowingly taken up cannibalism? Perhaps sadistic mass-murderers didn't need to eat. An image briefly flashed in my mind of Nightmare in the middle of a field nibbling on a potato._

"_What do you know about a sword called Soul Calibur?" I asked through a mouthful of bloody steak._

"_I know enough about it to know when I see it." Ivy's eyes moved to the blade on the floor by my feet. "Soul Calibur, or the Spirit Sword, is the polar opposite of Soul Edge. If Soul Edge ever becomes complete, then Soul Calibur, paired with a wielder pure of heart, is the only thing that doesn't have an infinitesimally small chance of destroying it."_

"_Hm. But you knew if it ever did get so bad, you could just take Siegfried along just in case…"_

_Ivy gave a chilling laugh before replying, "If it was just about the sword, I would have killed you in the forest when I saw it."_

"_Why didn't you, then?"_

"_The sword is better off in your hands at the moment anyway. This might be the only way to destroy Soul Edge's presence in you without actually killing off the person. Think of it as cleansing your soul of a foul substance."_

_After we had finished out meals, I asked, "So, how do you propose I break in? The innkeeper wouldn't like people breaking down his doors…"_

"_She. The innkeeper's a woman. And besides, I have it covered." Ivy dangled a key in front of me. "Heishiro gave me his room key before I changed my mind and invited him to my room. I just happened to conveniently 'lose' the key. I also paid off the innkeeper to keep her mouth shut about any ransacked rooms."_

"_So, I'm guessing you already bought our room?"_

"_Yes, I bought our rooms."_

_Rooms? In the plural form? Damn._

"_Where exactly were you keeping those keys, anyway? I doubt that outfit has any pockets."_

_Ivy tapped her armlet and it opened up to reveal a small compartment overflowing with her tournament winnings._

_She then excused herself for a moment to the restroom, where I could have sworn I heard vomiting._


	15. Chapter 15

_ Chapter 15 _

_The sun had finally set on this long day as I waited outside the inn with a key in my hand and Soul Calibur strapped to my back with a strip of cloth removed from the fat man's clothes. It went over the robe in an X shape across my chest. The cloth and Soul Calibur were the only things visible with the hood pulled over my face as I awaited Mitsurugi's arrival._

_A few minutes later, I saw him approaching. I was well hidden between the buildings, so I simply watched as he stumbled right past me into the inn. I caught a whiff of alcohol as he passed._

_I waited about ten seconds, before I peeked in the door. No Mitsurugi in sight. I made my way by the different rooms, where I heard the door to room ten, which was Ivy's room, latch shut._

_I checked the key just to be sure before I unlocked room eighteen and let myself in._

_This inn was of higher quality than it seemed from the outside. The large bed was covered with a soft, lavish comforter and a thick feather pillow. Unlit candles sat in their tapers on the wall, and a finely made table and chair set sat by the enormous window. Remains of a half-eaten roast chicken were lying on the table with the life shoved into its breast and a fork stuck in its leg. Either he was a light eater or had gotten frustrated with European silverware._

_I checked every place I could think of in Mitsurugi's room: in the bureau, on the table, under the bed (shouldn't have looked there…) and even inside the chicken. You never know, some people are really bizarre and twisted…_

_Finally, I found it in a taper missing its candle. The red chunk of metal had a familiar aura, one that both seemed to relax and shred my mind at the same time. I knew I should have destroyed the sword's fragment instantly, but no matter how hard I tried to reach back and grab my sword… I was unable. Sorry, Ivy, I thought as I put the fragment inside my robe pocket and left Mitsurugi's room no more disorganized than it had been before my arrival._

_I crossed the inn to Ivy's room, and as soon as I opened the door, I realized I should have waited outside just a few seconds longer._

_Honestly, I couldn't have told someone if she was killing him or raping him; her heel was on his back, her whip in the air, and the top half of her outfit on the floor, leaving her perfect breasts exposed (as if you couldn't have imagined them from her outfit… it's not like it covered much…). Mitsurugi was on his hands and knees, his pants on the floor next to him, the fresh wraps slashed in several places on his back. All the activity in the room stopped instantly as they both snapped their heads toward me, their eyes wide._

_Well, now that I blew Ivy's cover, I might as well kill him off. I pulled Soul Calibur off my back and lopped off his head with a well-placed vertical chop._

"_Why are you here, Siegfried?" Ivy reverted her whip back to its sword form. She wasn't ashamed of showing her breasts… or maybe she didn't realize she was still half nude._

_Why did I come here? I knew what was going on in this room, yet I came in anyway. Was the fragment of Soul Edge too much for me to think clearly?_

"_Mitsurugi was drunk. If you would've messed up, he wouldn't have held back against you." I struggled to keep my eyes on her face instead of her chest._

"_You don't think I could smell it on his breath? I think I could handle him—!" Ivy stared at her sword, which had become a whip and was lightly pulling in my direction. With a betrayed expression, she stared at me with her mouth open. "You didn't destroy the fragment?"_

"_I couldn't. It still was calling to me."_

"_Give it to me. I'll destroy it."_

_I reached inside my robe pocket and clasped my gauntlet around the tiny metal shard. As soon as it touched my armor, I could feel an inner pain unlike any I had ever felt before, even under Soul Edge's influence. In my right hand, Soul Calibur glowed with its divine aura, and the left hand in my pocket burned with the demonic rage of Soul Edge. I fell to my knees as my body became the battlefield of the two legendary weapons._


	16. Chapter 16

_ Chapter 16 _

_I'm not sure if it was a dream or reality, but instantly I was floating in complete darkness. I looked around in a futile attempt to tell where I was, and noticed a familiar sword stuck in the ground in front of where I landed. It was the demonic sword, Soul Edge. Grasping its handle was a fiery apparition – the monster that controlled my body when I was under the sword's influence._

_I gripped Soul Calibur in both hands. The fragment, I had noticed, had disappeared._

"_What are you?" My voice seemed distant and vague, like it was coming from somewhere else._

"_Inferno…" The thing had no voice; I could hear it inside my mind, echoing around my skull. "It's useless to try fighting me… My power is absolute!"_

"_Never again will I be controlled by you!" My voice still seemed far-off. I readied Soul Calibur at my side, prepared to strike at any moment._

"_Hah! You think one feeble person will be able to stand up against me! I had absorbed countless souls! Even fragmented in my power, it will be more than enough to obliterate you! You will succumb to my presence!"_

_Inferno and the entire landscape erupted in blazing fire. The walking column of flame viciously ripped Soul Edge from the ground and slowly moved toward me. For the sake of Earth, I couldn't lose this battle, now that Soul Calibur gave me a fighting chance against Soul Edge… even if it is just a fragment. I would destroy the evil presence one shard at a time._

_Soul Edge and Soul Calibur clashed together, creating a shower of energy. Again and again, the two swords struck each other, neither able to break the other's guard._

_After a long, arduous battle, I had become weary; Soul Calibur's revitalizing effect dwindled more and more._

"_You call this a battle? Hah!" The flame whirled around me and effortlessly planted the sword into my back, forcing me to the ground. Soul Edge was driven through my body and into the fiery earth beneath me._

_I could feel the blood draining from my body, but it was completely painless. Soul Calibur should be able to destroy the entire sword, but its wielder lacked the willpower to destroy a single shard…_

_The flaming wielder of Soul Edge gave a menacing laugh as it vanished and I felt an incredible evil enter through the sword. The flames spanning the entire landscape were reduced to smoldering embers and the ground vanished, leaving nothing but Soul Edge in my back and eerie laughter escaping my lungs._


	17. Chapter 17

_ Chapter 17 _

"_Siegfried… Are you okay?"_

_Again, I was in the inn room. The shredding pain had stopped, and Ivy (still topless) stood in front of me._

"_Siegfried, give me the shard!"_

_I looked down to my hand. The fragment was gone, but its shape seemed to be burned into the armor. An incredible burning sensation was just under the charred armor._

"_Hand it over now! I must destroy it!" Ivy's hand tensely gripped her sword._

"_You can't possibly destroy it…" These words escaped my mouth as I rose to my feet. No… The evil blade had won again…my arms rose high and fell to the ground, and I watched in horror as Soul Calibur passed through Ivy._

_Isabella Valentine's green eyes welled up with tears and hurt. She was betrayed by the one person she had come to trust. Her top half slid to the floor, followed by her legs._

_What had I done? I fell to my knees next to Ivy's corpse and burst into tears, both mourning Ivy and out of frustration that, even with Soul Calibur, I was still unable to withstand Soul Edge. There was no turning back now; Soul Edge had become a part of me, scorched through my skin._

_There was only one solution: in this brief period of lucidity, I would have to end my own life before I took countless others'._

_Unfortunately, this was not to be._


	18. Chapter 18

_ Chapter 18 _

_After making my resolve, I decided it would only be right to commit the act with Ivy's sword, Valentine. This would prove to be a devastating mistake as my hand clenched around the handle and began to drain the life out of the sword. I strained to let go, but it was too late; the sword crackled with the last of its energy before fading and dropping to the floor. I had forgotten that Ivy had mentioned fusing a Soul Edge fragment into Valentine._

_Inferno's grip on my body strengthened even more. Luckily, my mind was still under my power… for the time being. Inferno had the same goal as Ivy – to find all the fragments of itself – but for a completely different purpose: it wanted all its former power, and would stop at nothing to obtain it._

_My body moved over to the top half of Ivy's corpse and lifted it up, draining her soul, despite my attempts to stop myself. I watched her skin fade to a slate gray color and her eyes, until now still wide with fear, fade to the same listless shade of gray._

_Then, my body went over to Mitsurugi's head and drained all the life from it in the same manner. I felt the armor on my right arm slightly tighten._

_Nightmare exited the inn room, leaving two half-nude corpses in the center of the room._


	19. Chapter 19

_ Chapter 19 _

_Nightmare made his way to the pawnshop that I had sold his armor to. Obviously, Inferno had a sense of pride in itself, and wanted to make the people believe that Nightmare had never been, and would never be, defeated. _

_Nightmare finally reached the pawnshop after passing two guards who were oblivious to the fact that I had just committed two brutal murders. He then kicked down the door, and I made a mental note to myself that if I ever got my body back then I would have the common sense to make sure the door was unlocked before making an attempt to break into a building._

_The pawnshop was still open, albeit completely barren except for the neurotic shopkeeper. At the sound of the door splintering and falling to the ground, he nearly jumped out of his skin._

"_My armor… where is it?" Nightmare's voice had its usual raspy quality._

"_I-I-I don't have it… sold it to the armor shop—" He then extended a finger toward the armor shop down the street, the same one I had been in earlier. The wall he was pointing through held a number of rare and valuable trinkets, weapons, and artifacts. _

_I could feel a familiar aura from it, and sure enough, Nightmare plucked another shard of Soul Edge from its contents. It burned into the same spot in my armor, and I could feel my body slipping further and further away…_

_The shopkeeper, too stricken by fear to say any more, simply hid behind the counter, shaking. Nightmare stepped over the folded door to meet the same two guards._

"_Hey, are you going to pay for that door?"_

_Nightmare simply ignored the guards, walking right between them and turned to go to the armor shop._

"_I said, are you going to pay for that door?"_

_Once again, the question was answered by silence. I begged that the guards would just leave me alone; there had already been two murders committed tonight, and they had no clue what they were up against: Azure Nightmare, the creature that struck fear into the hearts of men in every corner of Europe. I guess the only way that the point could've been made is to have a huge spiked arm hanging out of my armor._

_The guards' swords were drawn from their scabbards. This had been what Nightmare was wanting: they had let down their guard to attack him, and they would both pay the ultimate price for it._

_As both of the guards ran toward the monster in my body, he flung Soul Calibur off his shoulder, thrust it behind him, and stabbed it deep into the taller guard's stomach. The infected sword was then turned to the side and pulled straight up through the man's breastbone and stopped at his neck._

_With a swift move, Nightmare swung the corpse around on the blade to knock the other to the ground. Tipping the blade upward to cause the body to slide down the blade into his hand, he grabbed the guard's neck and drained yet another soul._

_The other guard, who was on the floor and paralyzed by fear and shock, stared at his lifeless comrade, his mouth wide open. Nightmare reached out with his hand, planted it on his chest, and sucked the soul out of the living man, causing a shriek to fade into nothing._

_A thud came from inside the pawnshop, where the keeper had fainted and fell to the ground._


	20. Chapter 20

_ Chapter 20 _

_By the light of the moon, Nightmare made his way to the armor shop mentioned earlier, and, perhaps to actually draw the guards' attention, kicked in another door. Perhaps the past two guards' souls had been so great that he wanted more._

_Sure enough, Nightmare's armor was suspended on the wall in all its one-armed glory. Nightmare quickly stripped out of his current armor, but halfway through, a woman's voice rang out in the darkness._

"_Stop, thief!"_

_He turned to see a silhouette of a woman, holding a buckler and a short sword; the blade was halfway behind the shield in a defensive position._

_With no armor except his leggings and half of one gauntlet, Nightmare was at a clear disadvantage. Also, Soul Calibur was lying on the floor._

"_You think I'm a common thief?" Nightmare bent down to pick up the blade, but stopped short when another woman (also equipped with a sword and buckler) kicked the sword to the farthest wall. This would prove to be an interesting battle; these two seemed to be skilled warriors._

"_What should we do with him, sis?"_

"_Kill him where he stands. If he steals Rothion's wares, we'll go out of business." This one had a sharper, stronger voice._

_In their conversation, they failed to notice Nightmare moving closer and closer to the sword by the wall. However, just before coming within reach of the sword, he was struck by moonlight flowing in through the window. This caught their eye and they both rushed toward me._

_Nightmare dove for Soul Calibur, grabbing it with his right hand, recently covered in thorns, and rolled over just in time to block a sword with his remaining left gauntlet._

_One of the women had stepped into the moonlight, making it easier to block. Nightmare seized his visibility advantage and landed a double-legged kick to her stomach before rising to the ground to face the other. It seems Inferno had adopted some of my underhanded techniques._

"_Cassandra!" the other woman shouted as she watched her sister gasp and cough. This evoked a fiery rage in her soul as she turned toward me, her sword outstretched._

"_Who are you?"_

"_You know damn well who I am, Sophitia Alexandra… I am Nightmare!" I was unaware of ever meeting this woman before in my life. Perhaps she and Nightmare had fought once before._

_Sophitia gasped in shock. "But… I destroyed Soul Edge years ago! How can this be?"_

_Unfortunately, this was the distraction he had been waiting for. Nightmare swung Soul Edge in a diagonal slash, but Sophitia dodged and bashed his head with her buckler before driving her sword into his stomach._

_I pleaded in my mind for Sophitia to end my life, to finally rid me of this unbreakable curse. I struggled with all my power to break through Inferno's hold, and finally broke my way to the surface, in partial control of my body._

"_Please, Sophitia, please kill me! I can't control it!" These were all I could muster before once again being forced back into Nightmare's mind, no more than a single voice echoing around with no way of getting out. Unable to do any more, I could only regard Sophitia's torn expression through Nightmare's eyes… before he knocked her weapon to the ground with a kick to her hand._

_Although Sophitia was trained to be a ruthless warrior, my message did more harm than good, as her caring soul made it that much harder to fight knowing there was an innocent person held captive by the evil sword's power. She didn't have that problem the last time she fought me._

_Wait… How did I know about that battle? Could it be that Inferno was fusing with my mind once again?_

_This could be my last chance to stop Nightmare's endless massacre. I had to break through and keep my body long enough for one of the two sisters to strike a fatal blow._


	21. Chapter 21 Finale

_ Chapter 21 _

_The last time I broke through, it was during a moment of physical weakness in Nightmare. I had to wait for my next chance, if there was another, before doubling my efforts, despite the lingering disoriented, weary feeling from the last attempt._

_Sophitia had managed to retrieve the sword in the smothering darkness without being injured, and now was holding her sword before her. She was probably formulating a strategy to free me without killing me…_

_Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a way. The only things that had released me previously were a loss to Soul Calibur and something to destroy the Evil Eye. Both were out of the question, seeing how I was wielding Soul Calibur and the Evil Eye was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps Soul Calibur had suppressed it, for the time being at least._

_Suddenly, I felt a sword slash deep into Nightmare's back, followed by a stab. Cassandra had risen to her feet and held a blood-coated sword in her hand._

_It was now or never. With every last ounce of my willpower, I forced my way through to my body._

"_Kill me now! I'm begging you!"_

_Obeying my final wishes, two swords were thrust through my chest, one from the back and the other from the front._

_It was finally over. Nightmare's reign had come to a close. I fell to the ground, thinking my last thought before my life disappeared: Soul Edge still lived on. Was there really no way I could have stopped it? Perhaps a benevolent soul, like one of these two sisters, would be a better wielder for the Spirit Sword, Soul Calibur._


End file.
